Seat 9: Bruno Politano (12,125,000 -- 30 BB)
There is little doubt 31-year-old Bruno Politano will have the largest and loudest rail in the Penn & Teller Theater, and his early estimate is that he’ll be bringing 200 boisterous Brazilians with him. Despite being the short stack with 12.125 million — though that is the “biggest” short stack since the November Nine was established in 2008 – rest assured Politano will make his presence known.
Born Oct. 15, 1982, Politano, also known as Bruno Foster, is the pride and joy of Ceará, Brazil. Politano, who studied at Colégio 7 de Setembro in Fortaleza, Brazil, currently ranks 98th on the Brazilian all-time money list with $110,054 in live earnings (obviously not including what he’ll take home for 2014 WSOP Main Event performance). His poker prowess comes as no surprise when you consider he’s friends with some of his homeland's best poker players, such as Andre Akkari, Maria Mayrinck, and Thiago Decano.
Prior to his deep run in the Main Event, Politano’s biggest cash was for $47,493 for a third-place finish in the 2013 Brazilian Series of Poker Main Event (BSOP) in Florianópolis. Other significant finishes include eighth in the Latin American Poker Tour IV Sao Paulo R$5,000 Main Event for $27,206 and seventh in the 2011 BSOP High Roller for $10,594.
In 2011, Politano notched his first WSOP cash when he placed 148th in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event for $2,548. In 2014, Politano returned to Las Vegas and earned two more cashes prior to the Main Event – 17th in Event #39 $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $20,148 and 135th in Event #58 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Mixed Max for $2,708.
Politano has fully embraced the November Nine experience and was the only one of them to travel to Australia for the WSOP Asia-Pacific, which is where he made the final table in Event #7: AU$2,200 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed. He ultimately finished in sixth for AU$19,809.